The Blue Jackets have found Saturday night all right for fighting, perhaps both literally and figuratively.
Columbus won its fourth consecutive Saturday game two days ago, coming from a 2-0 deficit to post a 5-3 victory over San Jose. Once Mathieu Olivier dropped the gloves on the ensuing faceoff after the Sharks' second goal early in the middle period, the Blue Jackets controlled play from there.
"It was good timing, and thankfully he responded well to it and we got ourselves a big win tonight," Olivier said. "You hope it works. Sometimes it doesn't, but I believe we responded well to it. That's something that for our team is a type of win, coming back after a tough start, it's really good for our group. I think after (Thursday's 5-3 loss) against Anaheim, we needed a response game like that. We definitely rose to the challenge."
The opening period wasn't kind to Columbus, which was on the wrong end of a 15-2 shots on goal margin and 15-11 disadvantage in shot attempts at 5-on-5. In the last 40 minutes, though, Columbus had a 27-10 edge in shots on goal and a 38-17 advantage in shot attempts at 5-on-5.
Add in two-point performances from five players -- Gaudreau, Patrik Laine, Gustav Nyquist, Kent Johnson and Nick Blankenburg -- and Columbus found a winning formula as the game went on.
"Obviously the first wasn't the start we were looking for," head coach Brad Larsen said. "We made a little switch there with some lines and seemed to find ourselves a bit in the second. We just went to work and simplified. We started executing better. That's one thing we didn't do well in the first. We were missing passes. We were a day late and a dollar short in some execution stuff. It got better and we found a rhythm a little bit in the last two. It was a good win for these guys."
